Japan On A Roll

This summer is proving to be a good one for the Japanese space program. Recently, Japan successfully concluded a seven-year deep space mission by bringing a probe back to Earth and recovering it. Scientists are checking now to see if the probe brought back samples from an asteroid.

Another mission has also achieved a notable first. Japan's space agency, JAXA, has confirmed that the solar sail on its Ikaros probe has in fact been accelerated simply by the pressure of sunlight. Science has known for decades that such a space propulsion system was possible, but that is the first time acceleration by sunlight has actually been demonstrated.